The present invention relates to a building sign system designed to assist a wide range of individuals in locating routes to safety in the event of an emergency, or to specific areas or features within a complex.
The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that people with disabilities be afforded the same level of accommodations as the general public, and is directly tied to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The exemplary embodiment of this invention addresses one aspect of those requirements in the sense that it provides blind or visually impaired individuals the information necessary to locate routes to safety from various locations within a building or other enclosure in essentially the same manner as non-disabled persons.
To be sure, there are many known devices and methods for assisting the blind or visually impaired to escape a building (such as a hotel or the like) during an emergency. For example, electronic sensors or wands, "talking signs" utilizing tape recorders and even personal tape recorders are currently in use. These devices/techniques all suffer from serious disadvantages however, and have not proven completely satisfactory. Power outages and the necessity to stand in place and listen to a recording in a "talking sign" are just two of the many drawbacks of currently used systems.
This invention eliminates many of the problems associated with conventional systems by providing a simple, easy to use/understand, and economical system of signs to be posted throughout a building. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment, the invention relates to a unique series of signs to be posted on all floors of a building, and at various locations on each floor. For purposes of discussion here, the sign system of this invention will be described with respect to a single floor of a building. It will be understood that similar arrangements would be utilized for each floor, but each set of signs on a floor will be unique to that particular floor, and each sign on a floor is unique to its own posting location, i.e., no two signs are alike in all respects.
The present invention utilizes two structural components. The first is a paper (or similar) plan of the particular floor where a set of unique signs will be located. Each floor plan, in the conventional style of floor plan illustrations, will indicate the various rooms, corridors, windows, doorways, exits, stairways, etc. This basic floor plan is common to all of the signs located on any given floor. In the exemplary embodiment, each of these identical floor plans is printed with a unique set of highlighted marks (preferably in path form, and of a contrasting color) which direct sighted individuals to the nearest exit in the event of an emergency. In other words, the sign at each location will indicate the location of that particular sign relative to the floor plan as a whole, and the route to be taken from that location to the nearest exit or other area of safety.
The second structural component of the invention is an overlay of Lexan.TM. or other clear, relatively rigid material placed over the floor plan so that the latter is plainly visible through the overlay. The overlay is machined or routed to provide a series of indentations of appropriate shape which, through tactile sensation, informs blind or visually impaired individuals of the location of the sign relative to a safety route to the next sign, or to the nearest exit or other area of safety directly. The machined indentations in the Lexan.TM. or other clear material are shaped in accordance with a symbology scheme which, through appropriate education, will allow blind or visually impaired persons to distinguish between, for example, large rooms, hallways, doorways, stairways and direction of movement.
Thus, within the context of the two structural components described above, each sign uses three specific elements to supply information to sighted as well as to blind or visually impaired individuals: (1) a heavily marked floor plan outline; (2) a contrasting color path or route; and (3) a three dimensional route and associated informational symbols.
In practice, signs as described above will be posted at various locations on all of the floors of a building, each sign (on a floor) including a common floor plan, a unique color contrasting path and a unique three dimensional scheme machined into the clear overlay. In the event of an emergency, a blind or visually impaired person, using standardized methodology for locating exits or doorways within an enclosed area (moving from the center to a wall and then moving to the right until an exit doorway is found), will come upon a sign as described above at point A. Through tactile sensation, the person can ascertain their own position and orientation relative to the area within which the sign is posted, and also then ascertain a route to the nearest exit at point B (or other area of safety), or a route to another sign which will provide additional information along an extended path. By confining the machined indentations to the locus of the sign and a nearest route from that locus to an exit or other area of safety, or to another sign, the blind or visually impaired person need not be concerned with the floor plan as a whole, and is therefore less likely to become confused and/or disoriented.
It will also be appreciated that while the exemplary embodiment described herein relates primarily to emergency situations, the invention has non-emergency applications as well. For example, similar signs could be utilized within large complexes, such as shopping malls, convention centers and the like as a means for directing the blind or visually impaired from any of several points A.sub.1, A.sub.2, or . . . A.sub.n to point B. The signs have equal applicability in outdoor environments such as amusement or theme parks, stadiums, nature and hiking trails, and the like.
In its broadest aspect, therefore, the invention relates to a sign for assisting sighted and visually impaired or blind persons to locate a route from point A to point B, the sign comprising a first planar sheet printed with first means for supplying route information to sighted individuals; and a second planar sheet overlying the first planar sheet, including second means for supplying similar route information to blind or visually impaired individuals.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention relates to a sign for use in buildings for assisting sighted and visually impaired or blind persons to locate a route from point A to point B, the sign comprising a first planar sheet printed in a first color with a floor plan corresponding to a building floor on which the sign is to be posted; the floor plan also printed with two dimensional marks in a contrasting color indicating a route from point A to point B; and a second planar sheet of substantially transparent material in overlying relationship with the first planar sheet, the second planar sheet having three dimensional marks thereon in substantially overlying relationship with the two dimensional marks to thereby provide a tactile representation of the route.
In still another aspect, the invention relates to a system of building signs for assisting sighted and visually impaired or blind persons to locate a route from any of a plurality of points A.sub.1, A.sub.2, . . . A.sub.n to point B, the sign system comprising a plurality of signs for posting at points A.sub.1, A.sub.2, . . . A.sub.n, each sign comprising a first planar sheet printed with as floor plan corresponding to a building floor on which the sign is to be posted, the floor plan printed in a first color; and the floor plan also printed with two dimensional marks of a color contrasting with the first color indicating a route from points A.sub.1, A.sub.2, . . . A.sub.n, respectively, to point B; and a second planar sheet of substantially transparent material in overlying relationship with the first planar sheet, the second planar sheet having three dimensional marks thereon in substantially overlying relationship with the two dimensional marks to thereby provide a tactile representation of the route.
The building sign system in accordance with this invention has the following unique features: (1) The signs are very quick to read by both sighted and visually impaired or blind individuals; (2) Only the basic information needed to assist the blind or visually impaired individual to the next sign or area of safety is machined into the overlay; (3) Each sign is unique within a larger system of signs; and (4) Each sign uses the elements of heavily marked floor plan, color and three dimensional machining to provide information to both sighted and blind or visually impaired persons.
Utilizing the signage guidelines developed under the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, the building sign system in accordance with this invention quickly and easily assists the blind and the visually disabled in locating routes to safety in the event of an emergency.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.